


All the veins meet

by risinggreatness



Series: Circle 'round the sun [103]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-27
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-15 11:59:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3446366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risinggreatness/pseuds/risinggreatness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoda delves deeper into the nature of the Force (TCW s6 retool)</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the veins meet

In the days following the students’ return from Mortis, Yoda is unsettled. That young Skywalker would go mute in front of the Council is expected, but even in Obi-Wan’s account, Yoda senses omission.

Mace might worry about checks on Skywalker’s now seemingly limitless abilities. Foolishness. Everyone has limits, even Yoda himself. Jealousy is a small part of Mace’s concerns; maybe even Yoda’s. The truth is it has been centuries since Yoda met someone so strong with the Force and he’s sure those others were not close to rivalling this Jedi.

Yoda can almost hear Qui-Gon’s plea to train the boy from all those years ago. The boy shouldn’t have been left on Tatooine to waste away, talents only for mechanics.

Still, Yoda keeps his distance.

Skywalker, as always, does the same.

\----------

With the passing of Even, Yoda finds he loses focus. He only half pays attention to meetings, straining to hear the gruff, large voice of the one fallen from their ranks.

Once, strange of all, he swears he hears Qui-Gon’s.

\----------

But the voice of Qui-Gon does not desist in Yoda’s mind. It follows him through the halls, in the younglings training, in his sleep. Sometimes it is a quiet whisper; other times it is though Qui-Gon still stands next to him.

Meditation does not bring clarity.

Yoda goes to the courtyard; still and quiet. There are no drills today, no small conferences. He makes no attempt to meditate by the trees and fountains; he simply walks, cane clicking gently on tile.

“Yoda. Yoda.”

Again, Qui-Gon sounds close enough to only be feet away. It convinces Yoda so much that he even spins to look for the source of the sound.

So caught up in thought, he did not sense Skywalker approach. But Skywalker could not be the source of the sound. ( _Strange of all, Skywalker himself appears to be looking for the invisible Qui-Gon as well._ )

“Are you alright Master Yoda?” he asks, concerned.

Yoda is used to being treated as doddering on occasion from his fellow Jedi, but it is odd coming from Skywalker. Since their first meeting, he was completely absent of the awe Yoda knows in many of the Order. Respect, in his way, yes, but never awe.

“No, well I am not.”

He is unsure what inspires this sudden confidence with Skywalker, but Skywalker does not seem taken aback.

“Let me run and get Master Windu –” he begins.

“No, the whole Council I must see.”

Yoda begins the slow journey back inside; Anakin with him every step of the way. ( _Overseeing the training of young Ahsoka has been a good influence._ )

When they finally reach the Council door, he steps back into shadow. Yoda is almost surprised he does not follow him in.

The Council holds rapt attention.

“Voices, from beyond the grave, I have been hearing.”

“Who have you heard?” Adi asks cautiously.

“Master Jinn.”

From the corner of his eye, Yoda sees Obi-Wan straighten in his seat.

“Impossible,” murmurs Kit.

“Not impossible, though no Jedi has come back from death for centuries – is that correct, Master Yoda?” asks Mace.

“A millennia, nearly,” he affirms. It is beyond even his memory.

“And you just heard him now?” Obi-Wan asks, leaning forward.

“Some time now, I have heard him. Since your return from Mortis, he has spoken.”

Obi-Wan slumps back in his seat. It dawns on Yoda why Skywalker came to the courtyard; they were the only two who could hear Qui-Gon in this world.

It is isolating and yet Yoda feels a connection with the boy perhaps only Qui-Gon ever caught onto.

The Council dissolves into separate discussions of the possible causes of the voices. Why come back from the dead now – is it a warning, a portent of great upheaval? Possibly Sith meddling, they seem to infiltrate more of the Republic’s defenses with every passing day.

“Tired, I am,” is all Yoda says. It cuts through the chatter and the room is silent once again.

“Let us bring you to the doctor, see if they cannot heal you in body. Perhaps that will bring clarity of mind for you,” suggests Mace.

Yoda does not disagree and allows them to shuttle him forward and out of the chamber.

Anakin still waits by the door to follow.

\----------

_Dagobah_ : the old masters whispered of the system as a place of great Darkness and yet Qui-Gon bids him to come. Perhaps Yoda is not feeling his age quite yet, for he now desires to journey to it, to learn the wisdom of the ancients and to pass it on to his own.

Yet now they all strap him down as if he is on death’s door. Yoda knows he is ready for death when it comes, but it is not yet, of that he is sure.

And only one who will assist him in this mission.

“You sent for me, Master Yoda?”

“Escape from this prison, you must help me.”

“You’re not in prison,” Skywalker notes wryly.

“No, but my age, the others think my prison is.”

Skywalker looks to swallow his next words, words on youth and inexperience as a bar.

“What good am I going to do?”

“The guards will let me pass, if you are with me. Besides, disobedience, you have a knack for, hmm?” the corners of his mouth upturning.

Traces of a chuckle, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

( _Such an odd boy. Harnesses the power of worlds, laughs at the notion of reprimands from superiors._ )

Then, “Yeah, come on. Before anyone catches onto you and I really can’t help.”

Just as Yoda pulls away in his single-pilot ship, he sees his cohort cornered by half the Council.

\----------

Perhaps it is their newfound understanding that brings a vision of Skywalker with him against the demon of Sidious from the shadows of Bane.

( _Yoda does not think of how Skywalker truly glared as his temptation in the wellspring floated into dust._ )

Sidious wields lightening and nothing else; Skywalker does his best to deflect with his lightsaber, but it only lasts so long. Collapsed and near death, Yoda does his best to intercede, though he moves slow.

Sidious only cackles, collapsing the floor from underneath them both, then turning his lightening to Yoda.

The pain is unbearable, cracking bones and burning insides, but Anakin must be saved before Yoda may turn his attention to the Sith.

Secured on a precarious ledge, Yoda leaps for Sidious, to pull back his hood and unmask his identity. He misses, but they both tumble into the endless ravine.

Sidious’s robes contain nothing. Yoda drops them and simply lets himself fall.

He saved the Order first and death is ready.

( _Yoda regains consciousness where Bane first entranced him. The priestesses tell him he is ready._ )

\----------

When the Council asks what he saw, what he learned, Yoda finds he cannot say.

When he is ready, he will teach them the old ways.

**Author's Note:**

> See author bio for discussion on this 'verse.


End file.
